The last time we saw Lamar Jackson play in a postseason game, it did not go so well. There were unsightly passes, even more sacks and calls from the Baltimore crowd to pull him for Joe Flacco of all people. The next time we saw Jackson on a football field, he looked like one of the best quarterbacks in the league in a Week 1 demolition of the Dolphins before leading the Ravens back to the playoffs with a 14-2 record and establishing himself as the clear MVP favorite.

Jackson did not do a whole lot of struggling during the 2019 season, but there were a handful of performances where the weak spots in his game (there aren’t a lot of them) stood out more than others. Baltimore’s loss in Kansas City is one of them. The overtime win over Pittsburgh two weeks later was another for the soon-to-be MVP.

If you’re looking for a common thread between those two games, it doesn’t take long to find one when going through the film. Both defenses did a good job of disguising their coverages before the snap and changing the picture after it — a common (and effective) tactic used against younger quarterbacks.  Lamar, being Lamar, was still able to make some plays against those looks but he never really seemed comfortable while reading the defense from the pocket.

You’re probably wondering: What do a couple of games from the first two months of the season have to do with the Ravens’ Divisional Round game against the Titans? Possibly nothing. But Tennessee defensive coordinator, Dean Pees, just so happens to be a mad genius when it comes to disguising coverages. So this might look like a mismatch on paper — Baltimore is 9-point favorites — but this Titans defense could pose an unexpected threat to 2019’s best quarterback.

Tennessee’s defense hasn’t been all that great this season — 16th in defensive DVOA and 21st against the pass — but it has been fun to watch thanks to Pees’ scheme, which features exotic pressures designed to hack opponents’ protection calls and bewilder quarterbacks. The pressure concept that has given Titans opponents the most problems is what’s referred to as a “creeper,” or a simulated pressure.

I wrote about “creepers” in the offseason, but, in short, the goal is to get “safe pressure” by sending a rush that looks like a blitz, only with four rushers instead of five or six. This involves dropping a traditional pass rusher on the line of scrimmage into coverage while sending a second- or third-level defender after the quarterback. If used correctly, the defense will get the offense to slide its protection the wrong way, which can create a blocking mismatch or, even better, a free runner at the quarterback.

This is the first play of the Titans’ win over the Patriots. Brady reads the blitz and thinks he can throw to his hot receiver (Mohamad Sanu in the left slot) if the weakside linebacker blitzes. He does, but the safety rotates down quickly and smothers the route.

With a free rusher in his face, Brady has to quickly look to the outside and throws an inaccurate pass.

The Titans will also run simulated pressures, showing an obvious blitz look before the snap and then dropping seven or more defenders into coverage.

Here they cross the wires for the Pats offensive line and end up getting two rushers with one-on-one blocks despite only sending three. Brady panics initially and ends up taking a hit while throwing an off-target pass. Tennessee is getting the benefits of pressure without leaving its secondary vulnerable. That’s the dream for defensive coordinators.

Pees has been calling these simulated pressures all season but the best example of their usefulness came in the very first week, when the Titans defense put Baker Mayfield’s mind in a blender.

Mayfield was sacked five times. Three were the result of creepers. He also threw three interceptions in the game. Two of them came against creeper pressures.

The Titans will undoubtedly lean heavily on this concept in Baltimore this weekend.

That brings us back to Lamar. Let’s focus on the Chiefs game, which is where he looked the most lost as a passer. Kansas City defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo threw disguised pressures on over 25% of his dropbacks based on my unofficial charting, and Lamar was lucky to escape the game without throwing an interception into one of those post-snap coverage rotations.

He certainly came close.

But on the whole, Jackson did a good job of avoiding those dangerous throws against the Chiefs. He did, however, throw an inordinate amount of checkdowns that had little chance of keeping the chains moving.

Against a Ravens passing game that led the league in Expected Points Added per play, that’s a win for the defense.

Jackson is a young quarterback with only a year-and-a-half of starting experience, so it’s not a surprise that disguised coverages give him some issues. Even veteran quarterbacks have trouble figuring them out. Here’s Philip Rivers, who has seen every coverage known to man, throwing a pick into one of the Chiefs’ disguises:

.#Chiefskingdom dropping into 3-Saf Tampa

In the NFL you can do unique things coverage wise because the game is played in the MOF (narrow hashes)#BoltUp aligns in a Trips Flex#Chiefs are in a Dime package

Mathieu sinks w/ EYES coverage

Rivers never sees him#ArtofX (1/2) pic.twitter.com/f1huV053Oc

— Cody Alexander (@The_Coach_A) November 21, 2019

Now, I wouldn’t go as far as to say that disguised coverages and creative pressures are Jackson’s weakness, but if a defense is going to stand a chance against the Ravens offense, it can’t give him the same look before and after the snap.

Disguises are a must because nothing else seems to work: Teams have tried to drop seven or eight into coverage and Baltimore’s fantastic offensive line has given Jackson plenty of time to find an open receiver. Sending the house hasn’t worked, either. The 23-year-old led the league in total EPA against Cover 0 blitzes, per Sports Info Solutions, and it wasn’t even close.

Kansas City has had the best approach we’ve seen thus far, and, in Dean Pees, the Titans have a coordinator more than capable of replicating the Chiefs’ gameplan.

If Pees’ creative scheme has a similar effect on Jackson AND Tennessee’s top-10 run defense can at least contain Baltimore’s ground game (if that’s even possible) AND the offense gets back on track after that slough in New England, the Titans just might stand a chance to pull off an upset against the NFL’s best team.

[jwplayer GWv0MUMA-q2aasYxh]